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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

In addition a one of the most perfectly developed crowns you’ll ever see, with its amazing profusion of tiny leaves; this Trident maple provides one of the best examples of trunk and surface root (nebari) development you’ll see anywhere. Neither are overstated; providing a welcome relief from overdeveloped trunk taper and nebari that you sometimes see in Trident maples. But then, you might expect perfection from this tree, it’s from the Grand Master Saburo Kato’s collection (Kato-sama’s most excellent book, Forest, Rock Plantings and Ezo Spruce Bonsai is offered by Stone Lantern).

I’ve been working to develop the ramification on my trident maple for several years now but the progress has been slow. This year I’m trying something different to see if I can speed up the process.

I usually let new shoots run a bit before trimming them and I defoliate the tree 2-4 times a year depending on its vigor. This year I’m going to keep new growth in check by maintaining the tree’s silhouette throughout the growing season. To do this, I will trim all vigorous shoots as they emerge, even if this means working on the tree every few days.

That’s the plan anyway – it’s early April now and I’m already behind! You can see in the photo below that the apex has rounded out some and a few shoots are breaking away from the silhouette.

Trident maple – healthy apex

I cut back all shoots that were leaving the general silhouette and left the interior branches alone. When the new leaves harden off, it will be time to defoliate – another opportunity to cut elongating shoots.

After removing the new shoots

I’m hoping that keeping the vigorous shoots in check will improve the tree’s balance. If, however, I don’t see much progress by the end of the year, I’ll look to try yet another approach next spring.

Just for the fun of it (and to encourage you to place an order and to feed your bonsai!)

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Happy white Easter from Walter Pall. This morning Walter posted a whole bunch of photos a lot like this. There’s even some scary photos that shows fully and partially leafed out maples covered with snow. Here’s the good news from Walter: “While I am posting these photographs it has stopped snowing and even the sun is coming out. It seems that this nightmare is over and has caused no harm.”

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I’ve been working to develop the ramification on my trident maple for several years now but the progress has been slow. This year I’m trying something different to see if I can speed up the process.

I usually let new shoots run a bit before trimming them and I defoliate the tree 2-4 times a year depending on its vigor. This year I’m going to keep new growth in check by maintaining the tree’s silhouette throughout the growing season. To do this, I will trim all vigorous shoots as they emerge, even if this means working on the tree every few days.

That’s the plan anyway – it’s early April now and I’m already behind! You can see in the photo below that the apex has rounded out some and a few shoots are breaking away from the silhouette.

Trident maple – healthy apex

I cut back all shoots that were leaving the general silhouette and left the interior branches alone. When the new leaves harden off, it will be time to defoliate – another opportunity to cut elongating shoots.

After removing the new shoots

I’m hoping that keeping the vigorous shoots in check will improve the tree’s balance. If, however, I don’t see much progress by the end of the year, I’ll look to try yet another approach next spring.

Just for the fun of it (and to encourage you to place an order and to feed your bonsai!)

�

Happy white Easter from Walter Pall. This morning Walter posted a whole bunch of photos a lot like this. There’s even some scary photos that shows fully and partially leafed out maples covered with snow. Here’s the good news from Walter: “While I am posting these photographs it has stopped snowing and even the sun is coming out. It seems that this nightmare is over and has caused no harm.”

The day after my Seasonal students left I was so intrigued by what we had done with the Mountain Hemlock from last week’s post that I put this Engelmann spruce on a plastic slab as well. While the first day with five students it had taken all day to figure out, I did this one by myself in only two hours. Knowing what the heck you’re doing works marvels.

I also include a couple shotgun shots around my yard in this post—

Engelmann spruce on nylon board.

Closeup of the root mass over the nylon board. I hope the moss will eventually grow over the edge and it will be essentially invisible, floating a bit.

Some of the range of styles and trees I enjoy having around. Traditional, powerful black pine next to the ethereal feeling native vine maple. There's a wisteria to the left bursting with flowers (I took 2/3 of them off, it was nuts this year.) The boxwood to the right you might remember from International Bonsai many years back.

The companion plant bench... just beginning to grow. A couple are flowering already, such as cow pie and the indomitable miner's lettuce. If anyone knows what 'cow pie' really is let me know. From Japan, big leaf, white flower. The majority of these companions are Northwest natives.

This narcissus was blooming three months ago, potted in one of the first bonsai pots I ever made. The drainage holes are 1/4" wide. I had a lot to learn. Last year the flowers were 10" high, this year they were 6"--- plants reduce fast in a pot! Bit too flamboyant to display with a tree but fun on its own.